CABLE DEALS: If you hadn’t heard of Patrick Drahi, you will pretty soon. The French billionaire has big ambitions in the U.S. cable market, and now it looks like he may gain a strong foothold in the New York market. The Wall Street Journal reported that his company Altice is in advanced talks to buy Cablevision, the latest takeover in an industry undergoing a spasm of consolidation. Altice then later announced it would buy Cablevision for about $10 billion, WSJ reported. Altice has already signed a deal to buy Suddenlink, after Mr. Drahi’s pursuit of Time Warner Cable failed. Cablevision, which is controlled by the Dolan family, has 3.1 million customers, and has been seen as an acquisition target in the cable world.

THE VIEW: Facebook is taking steps to address advertisers’ concerns over “viewability.” The social network will allow a third-party measurement firm, Moat, to track how ads are seen across its platform, CMO Today reports. Advertisers big and small are worried about viewability in many forms across the Web, but up until now they’ve had to take Facebook and Google’s word for the extent to which ads are seen. That’s been troubling for marketers who favor third-party verification. (Google’s YouTube is close to offering advertisers third-party measurement.) Facebook in July said it would let marketers pay only when full advertising units become visible--for a price.

SKUNKED BEER: Anheuser-Busch InBev’s proposed takeover of SABMiller would consolidate brands like Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Lite and Peroni, which would be good news for the would-be beer behemoth, but bad news for Madison Avenue agencies. As CMO Today reports, the combined entity would create the 13th largest advertiser in the U.S. in terms of spending (Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller are currently ranked 44th and 55th, respectively). That could give the new company, if the deal is allowed by regulators, immense power when it comes to bargaining with agencies. AB, for its part, already has a knack for cost-cutting and pushing agencies to lower fees. If nothing else, the union would all but erase the competitive spirit bubbling up in beer commercials over the past few years.

WAIT, WHAT?: Comedian Steve Rannazzisi, who you may know from the FXX fantasy football show “The League,” has a go-to story about how he was in the south tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. That, according to the New York Times, turned out to be a fabrication. Mr. Rannazzisi, who has recounted the tale in multiple interviews through the years, said that he is “truly, truly sorry.” This is a weird story for a lot of reasons, but one thing is for certain in these situations: the companies associated with Mr. Rannazzisi are quickly distancing themselves. Buffalo Wild Wings said it is “re-evaluating its relationship” with Mr. Rannazzisi, who is the pitchman in an ad campaign. Comedy Central is “determining how we will move forward” with the comedian’s upcoming comedy special set to air Saturday night.